Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 34.djvu/95

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Loggan
89
Loggon


Ichnographia, Deliniatore et Sculptore Dav: Loggan utriusque Academiæ Calcographo. Quam Propriis Sumptibus Typis mandavit et Impressit Cantabrigiæ.’ This work, a pendant to the ‘Oxonia Illustrata,’ contains twenty-six views of Cambridge, one of Eton College, a plan of Cambridge, a plate containing two general views of Cambridge, and a portrait of Charles, duke of Somerset, chancellor of the university. There is no date on the title-page, but it is not difficult to discover from internal evidence when some of the views were drawn. The inscription at the foot of the view of Catharine Hall speaks of Dr. Lightfoot, who died in 1675, as ‘very lately Master’ (nuperrimè magister), and does not mention his successor. It was therefore probably drawn in 1676. A similar inscription on the view of Pembroke mentions that it was taken when the master, Nathaniel Coga, was vice-chancellor, i.e. in 1681–2; the view of the south side of King's College Chapel is dedicated to Provost Page, who died in 1681; the view of Trinity Hall and the plan of Cambridge are dated 1688; and lastly, the view of Magdalene College mentions Gabriel Quadring as master, who was not elected until 1690. This analysis shows that the work was in progress from 1676 to 1690, a period which coincides fairly well with Loggan's own statement in the preface, that he had ‘been employed upon it for a space of nearly twelve years.’ Further, Loggan was not made engraver to the university till 5 March 1690, and the account-books of Trinity and King's set down the sums paid for the work in the same year. In this year (1 May) the university presented him with 50l. as a free gift.

It is recorded in Vertue's ‘Diary’ (Brit. Mus. Add. MS. 23069) that ‘one Kickers drew the views and drafts of the Colleges of Oxford for D. Loggan, and those of Cambridge in partnership with him, and they both went to Scotland, and there he drew the views in “Theatrum Scotiæ.”’ Vertue also says that Loggan's pupil, Robert White [q. v.], assisted him in drawing many buildings. However this may be, the conscientious accuracy, as well as the artistic ability, which characterises Loggan's views, can hardly be sufficiently praised. He enables one to walk into the quadrangles of the colleges, and discover their style of architecture. Every detail of the buildings, the courts, and the gardens is carefully noted, so that they present not merely a record of the architecture, but of the life of the period.

Loggan was one of the most celebrated engravers of portraits of his time, many of his engravings being done ad vivum, such as Edward Hyde, earl of Clarendon, General Monck, Dr. Isaac Barrow, Archbishop Sancroft, and others. Dryden, satirising vain poets, says:

And in the front of all his senseless plays
Makes David Loggan crown his head with bays.

He also drew portraits on vellum in plumbago, with great delicacy of touch. Some of these are in the British Museum. Loggan does not appear ever to have painted portraits. Among other plates engraved by Loggan were illustrations to Dr. Robert Morison's ‘Plantarum Historia Universalis Oxoniensis;’ the triumphal arches erected in the city of London on the coronation of Charles II; two views of Stonehenge, &c. A portrait, drawn on vellum in plumbago by Robert White (in the print room at the British Museum), is stated to be a portrait of Loggan. According to Vertue, ‘The Picture of D. Loggan, Engraver, drawn on Vellom with Black Lead by himself, ætat. 20, 1655,’ was in the possession of Michael Burghers [q. v.], engraver at Oxford.

Loggan died at his house, ‘next door to the Golden Head,’ in Leicester Fields at the end of the seventeenth century. The dates 1693 and 1700 are both given by Vertue.

The ‘Oxonia’ and ‘Cantabrigia’ were afterwards republished, without date, by ‘Henry Overton at the White Horse without Newgate, London,’ with an English preface. The plate of the interior of King's College Chapel was republished, with the figures altered, and inscriptions in French and English, by ‘Robert Sayer at the Golden Buck in Fleet Street.’ He also published all the views of Cambridge, much reduced in size, on a single large sheet. The views of both Cambridge and Oxford appear, similarly reduced, in ‘Délices de la Grande Bretagne,’ par J. Beeverell, 8 vols. 12mo, Leyden, 1707. The ‘Habitus Oxoniensium’ was republished and ‘sold by I. Oliver on Lud-gate Hill, at the corner of the Old-Baily.’

[Kramm's Levens en Werken der Hollandsche en Vlaamsche Kunstschilders, 8vo, Amsterdam, 1859; Reg. of Convocation, Oxford; Bloxam's Reg. of Magdalen College, Oxford, vi. 75; Walpole, ed. Dallaway, vol. v.; Redgrave's Dict. of Artists, ed. 1878; Grace-books of the Univ. of Cambridge; Life and Times of Anthony à Wood, ed. Clark, vol. ii.; Willis and Clark's Architectural Hist. of the Univ. and Colleges of Cambridge, vol. i. pp. cvii–cxiii.]

J. W. C-k.


LOGGON, SAMUEL (1712–1778?), writer, son of William Loggon of Herefordshire, was born in 1712. He matriculated at Balliol College, Oxford, on 23 Jan. 1729-1730, graduated B.A. in 1733, and proceeded M.A. in 1736. He became curate of Estrop